Multi-wavelength spectroscopic analysis of the ULX Holmberg II X-1 and its nebula suggests the presence of a heavy black hole accreting from a B-type donor

TL;DR

This study presents a comprehensive multi-wavelength spectral analysis of the ULX Holmberg II X-1, revealing it hosts a heavy black hole and a B-type donor star, and finds no evidence of supercritical accretion winds.

Contribution

First fully consistent spectral analysis of a ULX and its nebula across X-ray, UV, and optical wavelengths, clarifying the nature of the donor star and accretion regime.

Findings

The optical/UV counterpart is a B-type supergiant star.

No evidence of disc wind signatures, rejecting supercritical accretion.

The system likely contains a >66 solar mass black hole and a ~22 solar mass B-supergiant donor.

Abstract

Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are high-mass X-ray binaries with an X-ray luminosity above $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$. These ULXs can be powered by black holes that are more massive than $20M_\odot$, accreting in a standard regime, or lighter compact objects accreting supercritically. There are only a few ULXs with known optical or UV counterparts, and their nature is debated. Determining whether optical/UV radiation is produced by the donor star or by the accretion disc is crucial for understanding ULX physics and testing massive binary evolution. We conduct, for the first time, a fully consistent multi-wavelength spectral analysis of a ULX and its circumstellar nebula. We aim to establish the donor star type and test the presence of strong disc winds in the prototypical ULX Holmberg II X-1 (Ho II X-1). We intent to obtain a realistic spectral energy distribution of the ionising source, which is needed for robust nebula analysis. We acquired new UV spectra of Ho II X-1 with the HST and complemented them with archival optical and X-ray data. We explored the spectral energy distribution of the source and analysed the spectra using the stellar atmosphere code PoWR and the photoionisation code Cloudy. Our analysis of the X-ray, UV, and optical spectra of Ho II X-1 and its nebula consistently explains the observations. We do not find traces of disc wind signatures in the UV and the optical, rejecting previous claims of the ULX being a supercritical accretor. The optical/UV counterpart of HoII X-1 is explained by a B-type supergiant donor star. Thus, the observations are fully compatible with Ho II X-1 being a close binary consisting of an $\gtrsim 66\,M_\odot$ black hole accreting matter from an $\simeq 22 M_\odot$ B-supergiant companion. Also, we propose a possible evolution scenario for the system, suggesting that Ho II X-1 is a potential gravitational wave source progenitor.